Engnews September 2013

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RFA BREAKING NEWS: Sam Rainsy Warns of Protests If He's Not Allowed to Contest

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Sam Rainsy Warns of Protests if He's Not Allowed to Contest JULY 19, 2013— Cambodia's opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Friday that if he is continued to be barred from contesting the upcoming national elections, he will not recognize any victory by Prime Minister Hun Sen's party in the polls. This could set the stage for mass protests by his supporters and other Cambodians, Sam Rainsy told RFA's Khmer Service in an interview hours after he returned Friday to Phnom Penh from four years of self-imposed exile. The National Election Committee, which conducts and manages elections in Cambodia, has ruled out Sam Rainsy's participation in the July 28 elections although he has received a royal pardon for offenses which he says are politically motivated. The 64-year-old Sam Rainsy, who heads the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), believes the international community would also not endorse any victory by Hun Sen's dominant Cambodian People's Party (CPP) if the opposition leader's name is not on the ballot. He said it would be unfair if he is barred from contesting the parliamentary elections as he is the head of the main opposition party and a potential prime ministerial candidate. “If I can’t participate, after the elections all the Cambodian people will protest and the whole international community will condemn the result and regard this as a sham election," Sam Rainsy told RFA when asked about his options if he is not allowed to compete in the polls. "Then we will demand a real election to allow Cambodians to decide their true destiny,” said Sam Rainsy, who was greeted by tens of thousands of supporters on his arrival Friday. 'Rescue' He vowed in a speech to his supporters that he would "rescue" the country from corruption and harsh rule if his party wins the elections and ousts the CPP, which has held power for 28 years and at present holds 90 of the 123 seats in the National Assembly, the country's parliament. Sam Rainsy, who had been living in France since 2009 to avoid a 11-year prison term for politicized offenses, was granted a royal pardon by King Norodom Sihamoni at the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen a week ago. However, he cannot contest the elections because the registration of candidates has long been closed and his name has been removed from the electoral register, the NEC said. "In order to value this competition and for the election result to be recognized, there must be two competitors," Sam Rainsy said. "Now without me, Sam Rainsy, who must run as the prime ministerial candidate for the CNRP, the current prime minister [Hun Sen] doesn’t have any rivals and will not be competing with anyone. So even if he announces a victory, it is not a victory,” he said. Sam Rainsy has accused the NEC of being under the control of the CPP, which has won the last two polls by a landslide despite allegations of fraud and election irregularities. Hun Sen has said he will try to stay in office for another decade, until he is 74. Rights groups say his continued rule will only worsen human rights violations and corruption and further suppress political freedoms. Problems in electoral system Rights groups say Cambodia's electoral system is riddled with major problems, including issues over voter registration lists, the use of civil servants and army personnel to campaign for the CPP, government control of mass media to slant the news, and intimidation against opposition figures and civil society monitors. While Sam Rainsy's return has given a shot in the arm to the opposition, rights groups are concerned that Hun Sen's administration may move to thwart the opposition campaign. "The deck is heavily stacked every day in Cambodia against anyone who dares to oppose Hun Sen," Phil Robertson, the deputy director of Human Rights Watch's Asia division, told RFA. He said the CPP has openly said that if it loses the election, there will be civil war, suggesting possible CPP-instigated violence against the opposition and its supporters. Sam Rainsy said he and CNRP Deputy President Kem Sokha were united in their zeal to wrest victory following their decision to merge their parties. The CNRP is a merger between the Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and Kem Sokha's Human Rights Party (HRP). “We want the people to win and become the owners of their country,” Sam Rainsy said. “We are uniting the whole nation." Kem Sokha said Hun Sen's party was trying to split the CNRP but their efforts would fail. “We have the same goal, we have a slogan to be united to make changes. We are holding hands to end the people's current plight,” Kem Sokha said. “This is a lesson [that we have already learned]. Nothing will split Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha," he said. The two parties tried to forge a union before the 2008 national election but failed after they openly criticized each other. Reported by RFA's Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambodia/contest-07192013171936.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

10 years, 11 months

RFA BREAKING NEWS: Up to 12 Uyghurs Shot Dead in Raid on Xinjiang ‘Munitions Center’

by Parameswaran Ponnudurai

Up to 12 Uyghurs Shot Dead in Raid on Xinjiang ‘Munitions Center’ SEPT. 17, 2013 — Authorities in China's restive northwestern region of Xinjiang have shot dead up to a dozen Uyghurs and wounded 20 others in a raid on what they said was a "terrorist" facility, according to local officials and residents. Police confirmed the shooting in Poskam county (in Chinese, Zepu) near the Silk Road city of Kashgar in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, home to some 9 million ethnic minority Muslim Uyghurs who say they have long suffered discrimination and religious controls under Beijing’s policies. While police refused to give details of the incident, which had been kept under wraps for about three weeks, local officials and residents said it occurred in Jigdejay village around the Kuybagh township on Aug. 23 during a raid on an alleged training camp and munitions center operated by a group of about 30 Uyghurs. The raid came just three days after authorities in Kashgar's Kargilik (in Chinese, Yecheng) county gunned down 22 Uyghurs during another "anti-terrorism" operation on Aug. 20 while they were praying in a house at the edge of a desert area. Nurmemet Tunyaz, the Jigdejay village head and local ruling Chinese Communist Party official in charge of 'stability,' said he was informed by local officials that six Uyghurs were killed and 20 others wounded in the Aug. 23 raid but he and a senior local Islamic leader indicated that the death toll may be double the known figure. A resident of Kuybagh township, who witnessed the raid, said that 12 people had died in the operation conducted by up to 80 security forces. "I do not know the details but I have heard that they were making explosives and training in an excavated area," Nurmemet Tunyaz told RFA's Uyghur Service. "We did not hear that any police were killed in this shooting. The injured suspects were transported to the county hospital but those killed were buried on the spot." Security patrols Some of the explosives in the camp were detonated during the raid, he said, which had sparked round-the-clock security patrols in the area. Yasin Ahun-Karim, the leader of the Kuybagh central mosque, said he heard there were 30 Uyghurs in the group when the raid took place, 17 of them from Jigdejay village, suggesting that several others from neighboring villages may also have been gunned down. "I heard that terrorists or separatists dug up a place near the edge of a desert in Jigdejay," Imam Yasin Ahun-Karim said. "They were hiding inside there and practicing how to make some sort of explosives. Their activities were discovered by a police helicopter and police acted immediately to clean-up the place," he told RFA. He said he was given the information by Seypidin Ebey, the director of the village's United Front Work Department, an agency under the command of the Central Committee of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Officers in at least four village police stations in Kuybagh township, incluidng one of them who was on duty on the day of the raid, confirmed the shooting with RFA but refused to provide details. Eyewitness A Kuybagh resident, who claimed he witnessed the raid but speaking on condition of anonymity, said that 12 people had died in the raid. "Uhuh, that's right, they killed 12 people," the Kuybagh resident said when asked about the police operation. "[They were] training. The police discovered them. It was daytime. We were just in front, standing there. We saw them firing their weapons," he said. He said the camp was run by local Uyghurs and raided by 70-80 armed police. "They had made a huge gun," he said. "The armed police went and raided them, and that was that...There were more than 20 of them, and 12 of them were killed. Those who died were buried [right there]." He said the camp had been discovered after the Uyghurs had made rocket launchers that exploded on testing, killing one of them. "One of them blew their own head off, or they wouldn't have been discovered," he said. "[We live] on the edge [of the county town]. The Gobi desert is right next door to us." An official who answered the phone at the county government offices declined to comment on the incident. Information blackouts A Han Chinese resident of the regional capital Urumqi surnamed Zhang said local authorities frequently imposed information blackouts on violent incidents in Xinjiang. "They want to whitewash things so they can say Xinjiang is peaceful and harmonious," Zhang said. "Also, if they reported all of these incidents of resistance, this could encourage other Uyghurs, and maybe we would see even more of them." Chinese authorities usually blame outbreaks of violence in Xinjiang on "terrorists" among the region's ethnic minority Muslim Uyghurs. But rights groups and experts say Beijing exaggerates the terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest or to justify the authorities' use of force against Uyghurs. Last week, the official news agency Xinhua reported that three ethnic Uyghurs had been sentenced to death for acts of "terrorism" in June in Xinjiang's Lukchun township of Pichan (in Chinese, Shanshan) county. The punishments came about a month after Beijing sentenced two Uyghurs to death for their alleged links to another bloody incident in April in Kashgar prefecture's Siriqbuya township in Maralbeshi (Bachu) county. Uyghur activists had blamed the Chinese government's "sustained repression and provocation" of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang for the two violent incidents. Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA's Uyghur Service and Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Dolkun Kamberi, Mamatjan Juma and Luisetta Mudie. Written in English by Luisetta Mudie and Parameswaran Ponnudurai. View this story online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/raid-09172013222650.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org. To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org.

10 years, 11 months

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Engnews September 2013